Irish Accent

Suffering DOMS today! Taking your first run in nearly 6 months does that to you!
Yesterdays post should have come with more of an explanation as I tried to parody Lance's not going to contest the USADA charges statement with my own situation.

"Enough is enough"

There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, "Enough is enough." For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with plantar fasciitus  for 10 months now. Over the past ten months, I have been subjected to a bloody painful heel every step of the way. The toll this has taken on my family, my work, my waistline and on me leads me to where I am today - finished with this nonsense. I had hoped that my body would heal naturally but I will now admit I sought medical intervention; a course of Lithotripsy cost me $500 and only required a Consultants referral.It didn't seem to do any good so after suffering 5 months with no running I sought further intervention and got a cortisone injection last Friday but feared a federal court would intervene to stop this charade. Although the court was sympathetic to my concerns and recognized the many improprieties and deficiencies in my motives, its conduct, and its process, the court ultimately decided that it could not intervene.
My family have seen me become increasingly grouchy and grumpy as the races I normally run have come and gone. 
Today after I rode my standard 28KM (3 X Cadel) setting a new PB with 31,1km ave pace, I changed into my very tight running gear, and ran the old 5.7km Roo course for 4m09 K's.
The Heel was OK but background, the old calves of course were another matter. Stood in the pool for 10mins after!
Will watch La Vuelta tonight and assess what damage I have or haven't done! 
;-)

European Masters Championships 2012

The European Masters Championships are currently taking place.
Great web site and easy to find results
Check it out results here

Pete Magill to run a Marathon!

Wow this should be interesting, Pete Magill is going to run a Marathon in October!
Read all about it here!

World Masters Rankings 2012

Martin Gasselsberger has released provisional World Rankings for 2012 - he's calling it 30% completed.

Check it out here

These rankings provide great motivational inspiration, if you like racing people in the 'virtual' world.

The Men's M50 5000m is heavily populated by Americans this year , a real bumper season for them.

Specialized Secteur

I took 4 weeks off recovering from the bike accident.
The old bike was a write off (I should post some photos of the wonky wheels and bent cranks!) and with the wise caution of the Good Wife curtailing the ever increasing budget I was eyeing up for a replacement I decided on another 'beginner' model the Specialized Secteur, which is itself a huge improvement on my old bike. 
Natalie is right in so far as it is likely to gather dust as soon as I start running again unless I race Duathlon or triathlon which I would like to one day.
On my first ride I was fairly cautious as I got used to the new bike and tried to overcome the fear at every roundabout (about 15 on my course!) that drivers would pull out in front of me and repeat the dose of flying I suffered at the end of June. The new bike is about 10kg and by comparison flew up the hills so that first time out I improved my old PB by 2 minutes on my début and improved a further 2 minutes next ride! A further 30 second improvement has put my PB for 28.13km at 55;27 30.4kph 150bpm ave. Since then I have ridden early mornings (like my running I am always slower early) or on windy days at the weekend (August is notorious in Brissey for windy days!).
The heel is still getting better but is still sore. I have booked in a cortisone injection just to help it along as I don't want to start running till I am pain free.

22/8 Wed 4.52am 28.23km 61:02 27.7kph 129bpm
21/8 Tue 4.59am 29.14km 58:44 28.7kph 133bpm
20/8 Mon REST
19/8 Sun 3.08pm 27.99km 56:01 30.0kph 140bpm
18/8 Sat 11.45am 28.10km 58:08 29.0kph 141bpm
17/8 Fri 4.54am 28.17km 61:07 27.7kph x
16/8 Thu 4.47am 27.6km 61:21 27.6kph 130bpm
15/8 Wed 12.52pm 27.94km 56:22 29.7kph 147bpm
12/8 Sun 2.34pm 36.22km 73:57 29.4kph 143bpm
11/8 Sat 4.07pm 28.29km 57:23 29.6kph 153bpm
5/8 Sun 2.49pm 28.13km 55:27 30.4kph 150bpm * PB
4/8 Sat 4.05pm 28.12km 55:58 30.2kph 151bpm
29/7 Sun 1.45pm 28.17km 57:27 29.4kph 144bpm